because again, I saw it raw and I must confess that I got a bit less out of the conversations... but OMG! is this drama chilling or what?

Disjointed thoughts below (sorry about that)... some spoilers maybe but not really that much...

Yoshimoto is such a sinister character... You can even say he is evil, but you can't be sure because when he is all smiles or when he explains things as they are the most usual thing to say, you are prone to believe him... Those comparing Yoshimoto and Naruse may be right...

Anyway, I must confess that what it's taking me the hardest is watching how the younger kid suffers because of Yoshimoto's plottings... That passive-aggressiveness is plain cruel... which makes me even more worried about the little kid... Because we don't know why Yoshimoto keeps applying a policy of carrot and stick (found this saying trying to find the English version to one we got in Spain and that goes perfectly in this case) with him all the time. It is hard to admit that the birthday party thing has some ulterior teaching apart from making him realize that he can't trust his classmates once again and that he is alone! And if there was no teaching behind and just plain use of such a date to get his parents to confront each other... As I say: cruel!

The worst part of that is that at the end he is all 'I'm your buddy' but the roughness in Yoshimoto's treatment of the kid is just scary (kudos to Sho for his great job again!) Doesn't also look like he wants to get the kid on his side, whatever that means? *confused*

And, of course, at this point we don't know what Yoshimoto's whole plan is... we don't know if there is one to begin with... We don't know if he is just some crazy guy with a pathological need to destroy families (while he offers himself to save them) because that is what happened to him or something. Because we do know or can guess that he had some awful events in his past but still too mysterious... It's good, though... the pacing of this drama is really really good!!

I can't leave out of this post his dealings with Shinichi... It's a bit of a mastermind games, isn't it? Shinichi cleverness against Yoshimoto's savvy-ness... I wonder what big trap Yoshimoto has in mind for the older kid... Again, scary! I got the impression that the lady saying she was the Yoshimoto brothers' mom is not that and was hired by Yoshimoto... Is that even his real name? I wonder...

The beginning of the episode is so creepy! Sho singing that song and driving (at night!) the kid somewhere... I wouldn't have got in that car, seriously!

And the video for the birthday kid with the pieces of phone conversation included... Okay it made the mother to just leave out all she had inside but afterwards... Don't they wonder about the video itself? Wouldn't they assumed it was their oldest son's doings? Don't they wonder who is responsible of that? I know it's a drama, but I keep thinking about it (I know it a Japanese drama not a US/UK show... :P my bad)

And the very last part? the webside Shinichi finds? I wonder if it's a real thing, which is again, really scary, or if it's part of Yoshimoto's plan to ruin/teach the kid...

If it's the first option... the 'watashi no kazoku wa Yoshimoto Koya ni korosareta' (my family was killed by Yoshimoto...' doesn't give you a shiver down your spine? :S

Maybe I am the only one because I tend to make weird connections but doesn't Yoshimoto look to you like a quite derailed Mary Poppins? :S

PS I am disappointed with the ratings... I am trying to stop myself being bothered by the fact... >.

With plenty of SPOILERS (read at your own risk)....

I must confess that I didn't put so much attention to episode 1 so I may have missed some tiny info here and there (to the added fact that I watched it raw). I've watched episode 2, also raw, but I think I got the main things happening there...

Mess of a post, I am warning you!!

First thing I have to say is that as a mom it wasn't a nice watch. My son goes to primary school and the simple idea of something even remotely similar of what Shigeyuki had to face at school during the episode could happen to my child, just froze my blood... I know what some people may think/say: Japan is different. Okay, it may be different about how they (school/parents) deal with it -due to that tendency they have of 'if we don't talk about it, it didn't happen/doesn't exist' that really gets on my nerves-, but let me tell you it happens everywhere.

What really got me mad is the passiveness of that family, really! I want to hit them all, starting with the dad... What a dysfunctional group of people! I know, there wouldn't be a drama without them but the dynamics within that family just makes me want to cry out in desperation... and if to that we add the creepiness that is Sho's character... well we got the perfect combination to make me keep watching just to know if something gets fixed and how.

It pained me to see how the kid got bullied and nobody really cared about it. It hurt to see the lack of communication within the family, how they act like they are guests at a hotel where the mom cooks for everybody and everybody leaves to keep on with their lives. I really felt sorry for the mom when she tried to make the dad talk to his youngest son and he decides to go to work and she is left to be the one doing the task and she also avoids doing (!!)

I am not saying only the adults are to blame, the kid himself keeps it all to inside so they can't help him. Yoshimoto is the one helping him in that unorthodox way of him (allowing the kid being hit and all more than I wanted to watch). I know Yoshimoto's intention is to make each of them realize that they have to do something (he manages when the kids are with the stunt gun!!! and for once the older brother reacts and goes to his brother -finally some reaction from the almighty perfect son that I thanked-) but still... takes them long enough...

The final chat and the reaction of the classmates was hard to watch too because really, it looked so real, so like it can happen to any kid... that scared me a lot.

I feel terrible for the mom. She is so passive/silent about everything but she is hurting so much inside. The scene when she sees the lipstick on her husband's shirt and almost gags herself so nobody can listen to her cries was painful but really good. Poor woman.

But, Yoshimoto was brilliant, although I am not that hard-hearted (or maybe simulates he is). He has some guts yes, but well, he disturbs me big time, which, actually it's good. I totally forget he is Arashi's Sakurai Sho (or almost).

Must confess that if I got near a guy like that I would run for my life XDD... I mean, the weird walking, the stalker behaviour, the 'ghost seeing/memories assaulting him' that make him look like he's going to have an asthma or heart attack (very well acted, btw), the sauna sharing + talks and above all, the morning exercising! (has Sho watched himself doing that at the drama? I wonder... :P) All makes a complex and brilliant character but sometimes uncomfortable to watch in a good way, at least for me. I can't stop watching him doing what he does... even with that crazy looking smile plastered on his face...

But we also get moments where he looks sooooo good:







And now we got a cliffhanger... who is Yoshimoto Koya?

Btw, the ratings went up, which made me extremely happy! ^^ how many dramas go up in the second episode?

Oh, btw, I'm a fan of the drama, definitely!! (in case it doesn't come across from this post :S)